Podcast: Food Inc; The Film And A Discussion

Food, Inc. is a film about what is happening to our food chain. Every month, we watch a film, have some food, and discuss what we saw at the Serenity Cafe. The food we had was vegetarian curry made with organic ingredients donated by the Ragged community so we could have a community meal. The film was about the increasingly unhealthy way our food is produced such that the methods are damaging the environment, abusing workers, and having cruel disregard for the animals.

Made by the Emmy award winning filmmaker Robert Kenner, it’s primary focus is on the United States, however this is now relevant worldwide as the companies which it examines – and the methods of production – are multinational. These are not American problems, these are world problems. The corporations which have come to dominate the world production of beef, pork, chicken, maize, soy, potatoes and other staples, are not rooted in any one single country – they have global reach.

You can watch the film online and it is very educational examining food production from many different angles. We can no longer afford to manipulate nature in the ways we have done and expect to stay healthy; nor can we forget that our health and longevity is tied to the ecosystems which we are a part of. The environment is a collection of our life systems, and it is wise to remember our living relationship with them.

As well as the damage to the environment, it is important to understand the damage to the social and economic fabric which is going on when titan companies impose their will on societies. One such company, regularly known for the horrors it visits on cultures, is Monsanto. This giant multinational is an aggressive company which mercilessly imposes itself on farmers who try and keep their seed from a crop. In the film you will see interviews with farmers who have been brutalised by the legal hounding of Monsanto.

The film spurs many important conversations about what is being produced and how it is being produced. You can listen to some of the thoughts of people who watched the film below: